The expression “boiled sugar” denotes, in the field of confectionery, hard sweets which are well known to the consumer and which exhibit a brittle consistency and a glassy appearance.
Bad breath, also known as halitosis, generally arises in the buccal cavity. Hydrogen sulphide and methyl mercaptan are the main malodorous components which are formed from bacterial decomposition of protein substrates comprising thiol groups and disulphides, which are primary derivatives of the cellular components in the saliva. The content of volatile sulphur compounds in the breath is particularly high in the case of an inflammatory condition or after long periods of reduction in salivary flow during sleep and after buccal cleaning processes have ceased. This content of volatile sulphur compounds in the breath can be significantly reduced in the majority of cases by means of careful brushing of the buccal cavity, including the dorsal-posterior surface of the tongue, or by rinsing with a mouthwash comprising zinc salts. The tongue is very often the cause of halitosis. This is because it comprises numerous villi which retain the bacteria responsible for bad breath and form a lingual deposit.
Mouthwashes are not always effective as they do not make it possible to reach the whole of the bacterial layer at the surface of the tongue and are sometimes astringent for the buccal cavity.
The most effective treatment consists in cleaning the tongue using a tongue scraper and in using a buccal solution. The tongue scraper makes it possible to remove the lingual deposit and thus to reduce by half the bad smell given off. The major disadvantage of this nevertheless very effective treatment is the great inconvenience caused by the use of this type of device. Provision has also been made to clean the tongue using a toothbrush but this technique is itself also very inconvenient and somewhat painful.
At the same time, confectionery based on polyols intended for buccal hygiene is known, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,527, the anti-halitosis effect of which is based on the increase in the pH of the saliva due to the presence of calcium hydroxide.